Big World, Small Life

Chapter 4- The race against time

Natalia was in tears in the hospital bed in a strange town. She had to break the news to Coby, Amy and Wilson. Now was the time.

"Coby,I  really need to tell you something" she said.
"What?" he asked curiously.
"I collapsed again, I'm in hospital and I've been told I have..."she held back.
"Natalia, what? Please tell me" he said softly.
"I have cancer Coby" she blurted out. There was a long silence. She'd hurt him big time. He cried and asked "Is there any chance you can fight the cancer? For me?"
"I'm sorry I can't" she hung up and held her heart. It was so broken.

Natalia was eventually released from hospital. She was relieved. She had a tiny glimpse of hope that she could get through this cancer. She was beginning her chemotherapy tomorrow, it was going to be so hard and heartbreaking. 

Natalia's phone was going crazy all night. She sat in her bed eating ice cream watching films. Her phone was going off with messages from Wilson and Amy, to add to that Coby was calling every second. She couldn't hurt the three of them any more than what she has, so she chose to ignore. She only replied once to all three of them saying "I'm sorry if I don't make it, I'm sorry if I can't say goodbye. I love you so much xo" and she left it at that.


Natalia sat in a huge chair, she was connected up to many machines. This was the beginning of chemotherapy. Her beautiful, long blonde hair would soon be all gone. She hated it already. It was so hard going through it alone. She never realised how lonely and boring it would be. She sat there relaxing, but her mind was running wild with thoughts.

"Natalia, we have some bad news for you" the doctor came back and told her in about two hours time.
"What? Talk to me" Natalia jumped with a fright. She jumped to conclusion, hoping that it wouldn't be true. Has she got not long left?
"Natalia, were sorry but your cancer has been left too long. We're going to continue chemotherapy but unfortunately, you only have at least 3 weeks to live. We are so sorry to have to tell you this" the doctor told her with sympathy.
"Will I be able to fly back to Sydney?" she asked in shock.
"That is a huge risk honey. If I were you I'd stay here in New Zealand" she said as she placed her hand on Natalia's shoulder. Natalia bolted. She ran out of that room in tears. 
"No, no, no please wake me up from this nightmare. Please please someone pinch me! Fuck! Am I awake? No, no this can't be. I'm hurting Coby, Wilson and Amy! I can't fucking break this news to them! For fuck sake, fuck cancer" Natalia freaked out. What was she going to do? How were her best friends going to react? This was all turning into a huge nightmare pretty quickly.

That night she was on the phone in a group call with Amy, Wilson and Coby. It was great talking to them again, but she hadn't told them yet. She couldn't. Until Amy asked how she was going.
"Oh by the way, Natalia how are you? Are you fighting cancer alright?" she had asked. There was a long silence. She was just going to lie, but she can't lie to her best friends. Natalia sat there thinking of what to say. 

"Babe, are you ok? Talk to us. You don't normally go this silent, is something going on?" Coby asked with confusion in his voice.
"Uh yes...something is going on guys" she said on the urge of tears. She could feel the tears fall down her face as Wilson screamed in shock saying "What the fuck? What happened?"
"I've been told I have three weeks to live, I am so sorry. I can't fight it, it's too strong and it's taken over me and I just can't. I love you all so much. I can't go back to Sydney, not even to say goodbye to you guys" she said. Natalia blurted it out so fast, as the tears streamed down her face.
"Oh my, Natalia no. Guys, we have a mission. We are not letting Natalia go through this shit alone, she needs her best friends" Amy replied. "You'll always have us Nat".
"Natalia, were coming over to you. If you can't come over here, were coming to you to say our goodbyes and be with you" Coby said fighting back his tears.
"Awww you guys thank you so much" Natalia replied. They organised what was going to happen and then drifted to sleep.

Natalia felt safe, she wasn't going to let cancer ruin her life for good. She had the best boyfriend and the best friends of all. The four of them together are inseparable and this wasn't going to tear the four of them apart. When Natalia leaves though, it will be the hardest time of their lives. Things won't be the same, so the four are going to make the most of the time they have left, that is called a strong friendship right there!